Basic word order is verb-subject-object.

Nouns do not have case, and their grammatical roles are expressed largely through word order. Likewise, they have no grammatical gender or noun classes.

They are also not marked for number; there are no separate forms for singular or plural nouns. In many cases, the number of a noun is implied through context, but when clarification is required, quantifiers can be used: one, ten, a few, many, all, no. Any such quantifiers must be used alongside a noun classifier, of which there are a great many, and the choice of which depends on the properties of the referent of the noun. Measure words may be used in much the same way as, and as a replacement for, classifiers.

Verbs include suffixes to indicate the evidentiality or epistemic modality of a statement, which are treated separately.

The categories of evidentiality are:

• General knowledge (GKN.EV): the events are, or should be, known to be true.
• Witness (EXP.EV): the speaker participated in the events, was otherwise physically present for them, or perceived them through real-time sensory data (sight, hearing, empathy, touch) in such a way as to be certain of what was being perceived.
• Induction (IND.EV): the speaker did not directly perceive the events themselves, but said events left behind sensory data that allowed them reach a conclusion about what occurred.
• Deduction (DED.EV): the speaker did not directly perceive the events themselves, but what occurred can be reconstructed from common sense, general knowledge, or experience.
• Reportative (RPT.EV): the speaker has been told of the events by someone professing to be a direct witness.
• Hearsay(HSY.EV): the speaker has heard of the events, but not from a witness.

The categories of epistemic modality are:

• Indicative (IND.EPI): the speaker is certain of, or has no intention of passing judgment upon the truth of, the information: She went. When there is no epistemic suffix, this is the intended meaning.
• Veridical (VER.EPI): as with the indicative, the speaker is certain of the information, but wishes to emphasize that certainty: She did go.
• Assumptive (ASS.EPI): the speaker assumes the information to be true: No doubt she went.
• Dubitative (DUB.EPI): the speaker is uncertain or dubious as the whether the information is true: She might have gone.
• Potential (POT.EPI): the speaker considers it likely that the information is true: She probably went.
• Conditional (COND.EPI): the speaker is expressing a statement that is not true but could have been: She could have gone. When used together with a counterfactual, it indicates something that is not true but would have been had a condition been satisfied: She would have gone (if it had been sunny).

See also Vocabulary.